Question

A woman died with her eyes open and on her back from carbon monoxide poisoning. What would her eyes look like after death? Where would livor mortis be seen and what would it look like?

Answer 1

A woman who died from carbon monoxide poisoning would have eyes in a fixed position, and livor mortis would be visible on her back, turning from pink to dark purple or red. Treatment with 100 percent oxygen is effective because it displaces carbon monoxide from hemoglobin, restoring oxygen transport capabilities.

Step-by-step explanation:

A woman who died from carbon monoxide poisoning would likely have her eyes in a fixed position, as they were at the moment of death, which could appear staring or with a glassy look. Postmortem changes such as livor mortis, which is the settling of blood in the lower, dependent parts of the body, would begin after death. Livor mortis would likely be observed on the backside of the body assuming she remained on her back, initially appearing as a pinkish color and then transitioning to dark purple or red as the blood pools and decomposes.

Treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning involves the administration of 100 percent oxygen. This treatment is effective because oxygen competes with carbon monoxide for binding sites on hemoglobin, and administering a high concentration of oxygen can displace carbon monoxide, thereby restoring the blood's ability to carry oxygen to the body's tissues. In contrast, administering carbon dioxide would not help in carbon monoxide poisoning as it does not compete with carbon monoxide for binding to hemoglobin and doesn’t aid in oxygen transport.

Answer 2

A woman who died with her eyes open from carbon monoxide poisoning would not show significant changes in her eyes postmortem. Livor mortis would appear on her back as a reddish-purple discoloration. Administering 100% oxygen is essential for treating carbon monoxide poisoning because it replaces carbon monoxide on the hemoglobin, allowing for oxygen transport to resume.

Step-by-step explanation:

A woman who died from carbon monoxide poisoning with her eyes open would likely have eyes that appear normal, except they may not have the usual moist sheen that living eyes have due to cessation of blinking and tear production. After death, a condition known as livor mortis occurs, which is the pooling of blood in the lower part of the body due to gravity. In this scenario, since she was found on her back, livor mortis would appear on her backside. Livor mortis manifests as a reddish-purplish coloration, which is opposite to where the pressure points are located. It starts about 1-2 hours after death and becomes fixed by 6-12 hours, after which the discoloration does not disappear on applying pressure.

The administration of 100 percent oxygen in cases of carbon monoxide poisoning is critical because oxygen hastens the dissociation of carbon monoxide from the hemoglobin. Carbon monoxide has a higher affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen, forming a stable complex called carboxyhemoglobin, which prevents oxygen from binding and being transported to tissues.